Dawn Of Orion

Dawn Of Orion were from Georgia, and played late 90s metalcore, with a heavy emphasis on the metal, not unlike Day Of Suffering and Undying. Here are the only two releases from them that I was ever aware of.

On Broken Wings 7"
1998 - Undecided Records
http://www.mediafire.com/?vgx0oinlgyi

For The Lust Of Prophecies Undone
1999 - Immigrant Sun Records
http://www.mediafire.com/?vni7jiiymff

On a side note, I used to buy records off of Dawn Of Orion's guitar player, Erik, quite a bit during 98/99. After a good year of an excellent transaction record, he decided to take my 50 bucks, and not send me a handful of records (which I later saw turn up on ebay). If you happen to ever see that douchebag, feel free to punch him in the throat for me.

Chalkline

The midwest had numerous, great "emo-core" bands in the 90s. Back then, the bands represented exactly what that kind of label should entail, and that's simply, emotional hardcore. Amidst the bigger emo-core bands of the 90s like Split Lip and Falling Forward, I always thought that Chalkline went a little underrated.

Chalkline / Figurehead split
This split came out on Shandle Records in June of 96, and features two songs from each band. Although this post focuses on Chalkline, don't underestimate Figurehead, as they were an awesome band in their own respects.
http://www.mediafire.com/?hwij9ybbjzx

Self Titled 7"
This record also came out in 1996, but on Toothless Records out of Louisville, KY. Chalkline do 4 songs on here that are similar in nature to the ones on the split with Figurehead. Each one ranges from the melodic, to the heavy.
http://www.mediafire.com/?zmffmkxn9ie

Although I wasn't quite as into their full length cd, I do still have it, and if anyone wants, I can rip it and throw it up here sometime later this week.

The Ourselves Compilation

The Ourselves Compilation
This great live comp came out on Omega in 1997. I don't really have a whole lot of info on this comp, nor do I know how many were pressed. The cover, however, is hand made from a priority mail box, and that's something that I always enjoy. There's nothing better than knowing that someone spent the time to make sure that their release is unique in some way. This comp has a lot of great bands, and a lot of great songs from those bands. Enjoy!
http://www.sendspace.com/file/mql8pp

Disembodied

The 1990's produced some of the heaviest bands to ever hit hardcore, such as Overcast and Fortheloveof, but none were heavier than Disembodied. If someone tries to tell you that a band is or was heavier than Disembodied, call them a liar and punch them in the face. I find it horribly appalling that a good majority of their discography is now out of print. In this post, I'm going to post some of the more rare stuff from their time together.

Existence In Suicide
As far as I've ever been able to tell, this was Disembodied's first release. The "Demo '91" that has been floating around Soulseek for more than a few years now, is clearly just a demo from one of the 3 death metal bands in the US that were also named Disembodied. This CD/EP came out on Furface Records in early 1995, and was supposedly limited to 500 copies.
http://www.mediafire.com/?djzyxjdybr1

The Confession
These songs were recorded in September of 1995, but didn't come out until early 1996 on the legendary Moo Cow Records. I'd say it's with this release that Disembodied were really starting to set the new standard for the term "heavy" in hardcore.
http://www.mediafire.com/?tlkqydglzrz

Two Unreleased Studio Tracks from 1997 (Bootleg)
The rumor I had always heard, was that Disembodied actually put out this bootleg themselves. Two tracks are contained on this slab of vinyl, but neither of them are given titles. If I remember correctly though, one of these songs ended up on a comp. These two songs were recorded at the same time as the Diablerie full length that came out on Ferret Records. One of the copies on green mix vinyl has eluded me all of these years, but one of my two copies on mix color vinyl came with this alternate cover

http://www.mediafire.com/?2f2wb2xtnmj

And while we're on the subject, I've noticed a large influx of bands lately that are tuning their guitars down to B, or something similar. Please do us all a favor, and break up now. Disembodied knew how to do it correctly, but you just sound like a sad mush of bad chug mosh.

Chokehold - Final Show

Final Show [New Bedford, MA 3/23/96]
This recording came straight from the soundboard at Chokehold's final show, which was at a fest (which I forget the name of) in New Bedord, MA. Frankly, the quality of this recording, sounds better than half of Chokehold's studio recordings.
http://www.mediafire.com/?zdtctzcd9dr

Today, I get married!

That's why updates have been slow this week, and will continue to be non-existent until we get back from our honeymoon on the 10th. So, everyone have a great day, because I sure know I will be.

Backside Disaster

I have so many great memories tied to Backside Disaster. These were the guys that I used to hang out with on a near daily basis. Fife-0-3 Crew in full effect! There was a hardcore punk band here in Portland called National Guard (I'm sure I'll be making a post about them in the coming months), and on New Year's Eve of 1996/97, the new lineup of National Guard played their first show as Backside Disaster. They sounded more reminiscent of Strife in the very beginning, but over time, they took on much more of an Earth Crisis (but with more melody) influence. They recorded a demo in early 1997, that featured some great songs they had been playing live, such as Payback and Nutrition, but they never released it. Matt (who now plays in Nora) had the old reel just sitting in the closet of their house, but ever since he moved to NJ, I have no idea what's become of it, and that's a bummer, because I'd still love to hear it. It's with the birth of Backside Disaster in 1997, that Portland finally started getting "new school" hardcore shows. It's a shame that they so rarely ventured outside of the Northwest, because they really had a lot of potential. Only a tiny handful of us from those days are still involved in hardcore, and even fewer are still straight edge, but those were some of the best times of my life.
The Coming Of Iad Urorobos [Demo 1997]
I also have a copy of this that was burned from the master disc, but PC CDR drives were still in their infancy, and so it's plagued with various pop sounds throughout the recording, so I dug out my old demo tape, and even after who knows how many hundreds of listens, it still sounds great. Only about 25 or 30 demos came with the handmade lyrics book pictured above.
http://www.mediafire.com/?octx0b9mfjh

Demo 1998
This demo was primarily sent only to labels, with a handful of cassette tapes given to friends, and roughly 25 CDRs sold at a couple shows.
http://www.mediafire.com/?45m4n0lyqbx

Self Titled EP
This was Backside Disaster's final release. They had a few new songs written, but they never got recorded before a member change happened. They changed their name to Dying Anthem, but never actually played a show. Then Matt moved to NJ, and it's all history now.
http://www.mediafire.com/?j3eel1i9mdl

This was their final show on April 1st, 2000And as an added bonus, if you're from Portland, or even the Northwest, you can use the picture below to play a cool game of "count the hardcore dropouts" (why I'm wearing a wifebeater [front and center] is anybody's guess. It was the 90s, cut me some damn slack!). If you're like me, you'll lose count rather quickly.

Unrestrained

Demo 2007

Here's the portion of the blog where I blatantly promote my own band. We recorded this demo in August of '07, after only a couple of practices as a full band. We've been writing a bunch of new material lately, and it's definitely taking on a heavy Undertow/Strain feel. Keep your eyes on myspace.com/unrestrainedpdx for any and all updates on shows and future recordings.
http://www.mediafire.com/?avjw1oyzlzo

AC/DC

Can I Sit On Your Face Girl...You Can Sit On Mine
I picked this bootleg up a couple of years ago, and from what I've been able to dig up, it's limited to 500 copies on green vinyl. Although the back of the cover claims that the recording was done at Apollo Stadium in Adelaide, Australia on 12/04/76, reliable sources say that it's actually from the Haymarket Fest in Sydney, Australia on 1/30/77.
http://www.mediafire.com/?epwn0fd3bbj

Long live Bon!

Let's all take a moment of silence

for a true rock 'n' roller...

Raid

Above The Law

I always thought that hardline was stupid on so many levels, and yet, I always loved so many of the bands. Raid were one of the originals, and this cd has spent a good amount of time in my cd player over the years. The early material (which is towards the end of the cd) have more of a straight up hardcore sound, whereas the songs recorded specifically for Above The Law definitely took on a more metal influenced sound.
http://www.mediafire.com/?2mmly0ztncp

Sleepless Nights cover comp

I've had this comp for quite a few years now, but have never really known much information about it. I've been told that Issa from Good Clean Fun recorded these songs at his studio in Atlanta during the mid 90s, and put out this cd. It seems as though at least a few bands weren't too stoked on him using these songs for this cd.

Here's the tracklist:

And here's the cd:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/449if7

The Swarm aka Knee Deep In The Dead

Seriously, The Swarm fucking ruled so hard! The real bummer here is that they played Portland once in 99 in a basement, but I didn't even know about it until after it happened, because basement punks around here never used to flyer for shows outside of their little cliques. For those that don't know, the laundry list of others bands these guys have been in is a mile long, but just a few of those bands include: Left For Dead, Haymaker, Cursed, Grade, Ruination, Burst Of Silence and many more.

Here's two 7"s from The Swarm. Both of them have been on the internet for a few years now, but the rips out there sound like garbage, and completely blown out. Download these and circle pit in your room!

Old Blue Eyes Is Dead
http://www.sendspace.com/file/8tl4gs

Split w/ Force Fed Glass
http://www.sendspace.com/file/ce7l0r

Amenity

Forward, Into The Past (discography)
There was some great hardcore coming out of Souther California in the early 90s, and Amenity were definitely one of the best. Along with the likes of Downcast, and Struggle, they were really pushing a lot of politics to the forefront. One of the great mysteries of Amenity, for me, is why the bass player was also in the original lineup of Vegan Reich...bummer.
http://www.sendspace.com/file/kzfwtg

Canon - the interview

As a follow up to yesterday's Canon post, here's the interview that I mentioned (just click on the image to see a larger version).

And, here's the the Chapter Records ad that mentions bonus tracks that were supposed to come out on the cd version of the 7"

Canon

The Solution 7"
My pal EMS ripped this about a year ago and put it up on his blog, Coregasm (which you should definitely go check out), but I'm not sure if the download link still works or not, and I got a request for this, so I went ahead and just ripped my 7". If I didn't know any better, I would have sworn that these guys were from Syracuse, just based upon their sound, but instead, they were from Holland, PA. In an interview from Still Standing zine in '93, these guys mention that this record was going to be coming out on Overkill Records, but obviously that never happened. Also, in an ad for Chapter Records (which this eventually came out on) they claim that the cd version would have extra tracks. Yes, that's right, extra tracks plural. The cd version never came out, and that's a real bummer, because I would seriously love to hear those extra tracks. One can only hope that a master tape still exists out there somewhere. Canon also featured another memorable logo created by Guav, who seemed to be all over the place creating great logos for the mid 90s xvx bands.
http://www.sendspace.com/file/6yocya

Focal Point

Neglected 7"
It's no small secret that I don't like anything about "Christian hardcore" whatsoever, and yet, I loved Focal Point. Before they dropped that great record on Solid State/Tooth and Nail, this 7" came out on Life Sentence in 1996. Good ol heavy 90s hardcore is well represented by the music these guys wrote. It's sad that they went onto such awful bands like Training For Utopia and Demonhunter.
http://www.sendspace.com/file/h7jqfo

Unbroken

Live In Dagenham 7"
I really think/hope that these guys don't need any kind of introduction. The word I always heard about this bootleg was that Rob, Unbroken's bass player, was the one that actually put this out. The 3 tracks on here clearly come from a soundboard recording, and I would love to be able to hear the rest of it.
http://www.sendspace.com/file/lt5pbd

Motive

A Doctrine Of Scripted Torture 7"
These guys reunited last year, and played a show, but unfortunately I couldn't make it out to it. Motive hailed from Long Island, and impressed me heavily with this first 7". This came out on Exit Records in 1997, and I'd say that Exit was a great label at the time, releasing the likes of Indecision, Sons Of Abraham, Milhouse, Motive and more. Definitely give these mp3s a good spin, because I damn near wore out this record listening to it so much over the years.
http://www.sendspace.com/file/jguu3f

Absone / Decontaminate

Absone / Decontaminate 7"
I got a request for this one. Absone play the late 90s style of Euro vegan metalcore, and they do it quite well. I never managed to pick up any of their other stuff, so if you happen to have their mcd in mp3 format, please hit me up! Decontaminate were Dan Gump's band after Excessive Force, but don't expect tons of chug and gang vocals here.
http://www.mediafire.com/?1mthu2mmnmi

Chokehold - the demos

This Whole World Is An Addiction [demo '91]
This really seems to be the holy grail of Chokehold recordings. I've been after this thing for well 12 years, and in that time, I've only seen two copies. Recently though, I was finally able to acquire one with some money and some old Dead Unknown merch that I had sitting in my basement. This is Chokehold at their earliest, and it's a great listen 17 years later. And in case you don't know, you can simply click on any of these cover images on my blog in order to see/save them at the bigger size that I upload them at.
http://www.sendspace.com/file/46cs7o

More Than Ever [demo '92]
Sure, these tracks appear on the Prison Of Hope cd that Conquer The World put out, but here they are straight from the demo tape source. This definitely marked a much heavier and angrier turn for Chokehold.
http://www.sendspace.com/file/44se8d

Soulstice

Dark Hour 7"

Syracuse, NY sure was a hotbed of vegan straight edge bands in the mid 90s. This 7" from Soulstice easily sits up there with the likes of Earth Crisis, Green Rage and Canon. You know what the 90s had lots of, and that I really miss a lot? Divebombs...yes, FUCKING DIVEBOMBS!!! For the love of everything I hold sacred, someone please bring back divebombs! These guys also put out a full length that I'll probably get around to ripping sometime soon, but in the meantime, enjoy these 3 songs of xvx chug.
http://www.sendspace.com/file/ct3zzv

Chokehold - early 7 inches

Some of Chokehold's earliest output:

Life Goes On
Arm's Reach Records
http://www.sendspace.com/file/gdhnpl

Split 7" w/Crisis Of Faith
Grinding Edge Records
http://www.mediafire.com/?om4wdijrmyi